Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Impatiens hybrida cultivar Balfaforg.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Balfaforgxe2x80x99.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Cartago, Costa Rica. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new Impatiens cultivars with upright to trailing growth habit, freely branching habit and large flower size.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in 2000, of a proprietary Impatiens hybrida selection identified as code number N1649-2, not patented, as the female, or seed parent, with an unidentified selection of Impatiens flaccida, not patented, as the male, or pollen parent. The cultivar Balfaforg was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Cartago, Costa Rica.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken at Cartago, Costa Rica since August, 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Balfaforgxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Balfaforgxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Impatiens cultivar:
1. Upright, outwardly spreading and mounded plant habit.
2. Freely branching growth habit.
3. Dark green-colored leaves.
4. Large orange-colored flowers that are positioned above and beyond the foliage.
5. Freely flowering habit.
Plants of the new Impatiens differ primarily from plants of the parent selections in plant habit and flower color.
The new Impatiens can be compared to the Impatiens hybrida cultivar Balfaflav, not patented. However, in side-by-side comparisons conducted in West Chicago, Ill., plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Balfaflav in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens were shorter and had shorter internodes than plants of the cultivar Balfaflav.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens had longer petioles than plants of the cultivar Balfaflav.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens had larger flowers than plants of the cultivar Balfaflav.
The new Impatiens can also be compared to the Impatiens hybrida cultivar Balfaflila, not patented. However, in side-by-side comparisons conducted in West Chicago, Ill., plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Balfaflila in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens were shorter but broader than plants of the cultivar Balfaflila.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens were more freely branching than plants of the cultivar Balfaflila.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens had longer petioles than plants of the cultivar Balfaflila.
4. Plants of the new Impatiens had larger flowers than plants of the cultivar Balfaflila.